Capture the Flag
by Tigerdust
Summary: Fourteen designers meet in a challenge to win a prize that would change all their lives. Jesse St. James hosts season four of "Capture the Flag" with a panel of three judges and a variety of guest stars.
1. Chapter 1

The voice of Jesse St. James begins to speak over a black screen while flashes of images pass by the viewer's eye. "The time has come to claim the title of America's Next Top Designer. Fourteen competitors but only one will win. This season will have drama, romance, anger, but above all-design. So welcome to season four of "Capture the Flag!"

As the theme music begins to play, a camera pans inward on a very large blank design room. The floors are made of concrete and 7 long white table with 14 stools stand silent and stark, unfilfilled. Shelves and shelves of items can be seen off to the side and there seems to be at least one more door leading elsewhere.

In the back, a metal door opens and someone peeks their head in before walking in, examining the tables with hands in his pocket. He looks around, nodding his head at the space before looking back towards the door.

"My name is Dave Karofsky," he says to kick off the camera interview. He is a little heavier than a normal designer, but his baby face and nearly flat top like crew cut make him look just as young as everyone else he's competing against. "I'm 25 and I work for NTC Designs in Garamoth, Wisconsin. My style of design is simple, natural, and not all that ornate. And I'm pretty handy with a band saw, so I have that going for me."

Dave watches the door open and a girl swagger in as the door remains open behind her.

"Hello there!" she says with a smile as she swivels her hips and walks over to Dave with a strong handshake. She's wearing a mix of colors accented with a zebra coat and has under her arm a large binder of designs with an M dotted in rhinestones on the cover.

"My name is Mercedes Jones," she begins in her camera room close up. "And I am the diva of animal print! Yes, you heard that correctly. You thought it was dead, you thought that it could never look classy or cool but at Miss Jones Designs, I strive to show you otherwise."

"So, that's an interesting jacket. Is that...zebra print?" Dave asks as the door opens for a third time.

The camera room interview takes place while Finn walks awkwardly into the room. "My name is Finn Hudson and I'm a second year cabinet maker intern from Lima Tech in Ohio. I guess I like design because, I dunno, nothing else seemed to fit for me really. Well, except for my girlfriend back home. She's pretty awesome. She was the head cheerleader at our high school and she takes photography classes. Really cool. Her name is Angelique."

"The party's here!" A voice shrieks from the doorway's opening. Dave moves back a little bit as a very small woman in pink bounces into the room. "Oh, I love this space! Look at all this room! Isn't it glorious?!"

"My name's Sugar," the girl in pink says as she sucks on a pink lollipop and adjusts her pink boa in the camera interview. "My daddy says that I have the best eye for design and fashion out there and that's why his company hired me to work in their graphics department. But I like want my own space, you know, because I hate having to answer phones all day. It's really dumb and sometimes it messes up my hair."

"Look at your shoes," Sugar squeals as Mercedes looks down at her lemon yellow high tops. "They're not pink but they're amazing!"

"I know. I had them designed by the cousin of the original owners of the Keds factory in a contest. I've had them for three years."

"Seriously? These girls aren't even a challenge," Dave says low, almost whispering it into Finn's ears, causing Finn to cross his arms and nod.

"Okay, let's be real," the next voiceover states as a man in a ripped jean vest, jeans covered in tattered pieces of union jack fabric, and a bright green mohawk stand in the open door of the work room before walking in. "I am gonna win the competition, hands down. I have the experience and the drive and I'm badass. Nobody beats the Puckerone, which is why I'm here without any prior design experience. I don't need it. I built a successful lemonade business from the ground up in my hometown in Kentucky and what are they gonna do? Send me back to my trailer park now? Please bitch, I've got this."

"Hey, what's up cutey," Noah says as he sidles over to Mercedes.

Mercedes puts her hand up in her face. "Please. You are not my type."

"You're my type," Sugar squeaks from where she's perched herself on a table.

"Then you've got good taste," Puck says as cracks a muscle in his neck and then nods to the boys.

No one really notices the girl that enters behind Noah Puckerman, mostly because she doesn't say hello to any of them. She walks around for a moment, evaluating the tables. Finn finally notices her and follows her, hovering over the table while she's crouched, looking at how tall it is and what the legs are made of.

"Hello," he says downwards with a smile.

"Hi," she looks up with a smile and then pulls a marker out of her little zippered part of the outside sleeve of her jacket. She's wearing a top that looks like it belongs in an eighties secretarial pool and has about seven more Sharpies hidden inside various zippers in the jacket, along with a notebook for any ideas she might get.

She begins drawing a star on one half of the white table while Finn looks on. "What are you doing?"

Her first camera room interview explains. "People might laugh when I don't introduce myself and get to work right away, but I'm not here to make friends. People laugh when I say that my spirit animal is a star because they say that doesn't make any sense and it's not an animal, but they don't understand that a star is a metaphor and metaphors are important. I am star. I am Rachel Berry and I am the best thing to ever happen to this competition, hands down."

Santana Lopez is next in the room and she comes strolling in in a low cut blouse with teal and black stripes. She sets down her bag on one stool and then settles on another, her long glamorous legs reclined sexily. No one can see her eyes through her sunglasses and she just stairs without a word.

Finally, Dave walks over to her and extends his hand while everyone else looks on. "Hi, I'm..."

"Okay, I'm gonna stop you right there, Frosty the Ho-man. My name is Santana Lopez and I don't shake. I'm the baddest bitch interior designer in New York City and none of you best forget that."

With that, she turns away and starts writing something down in her phone after rummaging through her purse.

"Ummm...okay," Dave says with a start as he retracts his hand and just kind of looks at her.

"Wow," he says in a camera room interview when asked about his first impression of Santana Lopez. No one can tell if that wow is bad, good, or sarcastic.

Quinn Fabray clears her throat from the open door since people all just seeming to be staring at Santana and she enters in a sweet pink cupcake dress with eyelashes swept up and hair in a bun. She goes around the room like a politician's wife, shaking hands and smiling.

"My name is Quinn Fabray. I am a dress designer from Sydney's Wedding Boutique in Palisades, California. My assistant freaked out when I told her I was coming on this show because we are the fifth most in demand boutique for wedding design in the nation but I think my team can handle it without me for awhile. Fabric is kind of my thing and I notice one of the other girls here is kind of a pink fiend. So we'll either get along fine or we'll kill each other on the way to the top. You never know what's gonna happen," she shrugs with an unassuming smile.

Tina and Mike walk in from opposite sides of the door way at the same time and plunk themselves down at a table while smiliing around.

"So, we asked to come in together," Tina begins in the camera interview, "because we work as a team. We've been a team since the fourth grade when we had to dissect a frog together."

"Yeah," Mike continues, "she's kind of the brains of the outfit and I'm the brawn. She helped me design a dance studio in Florida that got us placed in Architecture Review, which is pretty impressive really. That's why we got this call and we decided it was us together or nothing."

"It's really cool of the creators of the competition to take that into account," Tina says with a nod. "And yes, we both know we're Asian. And no, we're not dating. Mike might as well be gay for all I know."

"What?" Mike asks as the interview ends with him looking at her with a startled face.

"Holla now!" Artie says as he wheels himself into the room and Mercedes gives a scream.

"Artie!"

"Mercedes, girl, what are you doing here?"

"I didn't know you got in!"

"It's your fault," Artie says as they hug. "You're the one that said you were auditioning and I thought what the hell and now I'm here."

"My name is Artie Abrams and I'm a professional set designer for both the Memphis and Nashville historic playhouses. My genre is considered Hollywood classic temporary and I am the fiercest bitch in a wheelchair you will ever meet. Rupaul told me that herself when I was on her show in the second season. What?"

Artie crosses his arms as a gangster would as his interview ends.

Lauren Xiszes stands in the open door with her arms crossed for a moment and watches Artie as he goes around saying hello. She sizes up the competition and bursts forth when ready. "Hello everyone, I'm Lauren. Sad to say that all of you are gonna be leaving before me because i'm the best there's ever been at design. And chocolate eating contests, but that's neither here nor there."

"Good to know you have confidence, I'm Finn," Finn says as he extends a hand. Lauren grabs it and gives it a mighty squeeze until Finn gives a little grimace.

"Hand shake like a girl. You the gay one?"

"What?" Finn asks as he wiggles his fingers to make sure they still work. "No. I have a girlfriend back..."

"Right," Santana calls out from her stool, the outline of her long legs more visible as she moves them just a hair more than is necessary. Noah seems pleased by this. "He can't be gay. Just look at his custard-filled nipple chest."

"Okay, that's not a good way to start out a competition," Rachel states.

"Oh, look who's got a crush."

"No. I am married to my design work. I mean, we should wait to see what everyone designs in the first challenge before we start to size each other up like hungry wolves."

"Star girl is right," Tina nods and gives her a smile. "I mean, we don't have to be enemies."

"Look, I don't need any friends. I don't want them. In fact, I actually ate one once that pissed me off." The room looked apalled. "Geez. It's just a joke. Cause I'm plus size."

"Look, I'm a fat bitch," Lauren says in her interview. "Why hide it? I've got nothing to be ashamed of and style to spare."

"Hey everyone" Sam says as he enters the room, combing his hands through his hair to try and dissipate his nervous energy. Sam's wearing board shorts and a tank top over an open button down in blue plaid.

Mike shakes his hand. "Welcome to the game."

"I'm Sam Evans," he says to the camera earnestly. "I'm a member of the Notovny Design Network, utilizing grants and commercial funding to make supplies for Habitat for Humanity houses. I guess I'm pretty much the good guy of the group, probably. I don't do well with drama and I know there's probably gonna be some drama here. It's not really my thing, though."

"I wonder who the last guy is?" Dave thinks out loud as he counts the number of people and stools in the building.

"It's me." Comes the reply through the open door and Kurt Hummel struts in, causing several people to blink and try to figure out what he's wearing.

"Is that a girl's sweater?" Mercedes asks, trying to sound polite but failing.

"Fashion has no gender," he retorts with a wiggle of his finger. He stands there, hand on hip, looking at the other contestant.

"Well," Dave sighs in an interview. "Now we know who the gay guy is. And geez, he's like super gay. I mean, do you have to push it that much?"

"Oh shit," Kurt says in his interview, "that was my first thought. Santana Lopez and I have lived in this city for five years and have butted heads about a million times since I opened my own loft out in Queens. I can't imagine this going well."

"Well, I guess this is season four," Quinn says as she looks around and rolls her eyes as Puck gives her a wink.

"You're quite right," a voice says as he enters from another door. The camera pans in on Jesse St. James as he smiles in his gray houndstooth tailored suit. "Welcome to Capture the Flag. You fourteen were chosen because you represent the best of the best upcoming artists in all the country. You may remember that on seasons past, we started with only twelve contestants but now we've got fourteen here."

Several faces nodded as Jesse continued on. "Unfortunately, not everyone will survive their first day. I hope you're not comfortable because..."

With that, two work men come out of the open metal door and grab two stools, flipping them over a table and then begin removing the table quickly. "There are only twelve spots up for grabs to stay. Two of you will pack up tonight and won't even see the space we've got prepared for the remaining contestants. Ready to know what your first challenge is?"

Tensions in the room became high almost immediately. More than just Rachel look over at the table where her star had been placed before the work men had taken the table away. There's at least one audible gulp.

"Your first challenge," Jesse began while savoring the moment, "is the white room challenge."


	2. White Room Challenge, Part 1

As the commercial ends, the first thing you hear is Sugar's high pitched scream superimposed on Lauren's face.

"Okay," Lauren says, "this is it. The moment we've been waiting for. Say it with me, Flag fans!"

The clip splices to Mike. "White."

And then to Tina. "Room."

And then to Mercedes, who has a gleam of excitement in her eye. "Challenge."

"It's so exciting," comes Kurt's breathless voice as the camera shows the fourteen contestants piling into three vans, "I've dreamed of doing the white room challenge ever since this show began. You know, like back in season one when Donatello did that planetarium and everyone thought he was going home but he totally won? This is the most epic challenge to do. Hands down. Nothing beats it. This first impression can make or break the judge's decision. Oh, I'm all a-twitter."

Sam kind of looks to the side of the camera, his face deadpan. "Everyone seemed really jazzed about this one on the way to the store. It's like, we're just making over a three walled space with pretty much no ceiling. I'm pretty sure that guy that was wearing the girl's sweater hyperventilated a little bit. I almost asked for a paper bag for him."

Dave's head shaking follows while a background slow motion shot of people grabbing carts unfurls. "It's utter chaos once we get to Total Designs Shop. I mean, I know we've only got half an hour, but that girl in pink talked in my ear the entire ride. I barely had time to think of what I wanted to do. It's just a white room. People are going nuts, seriously."

The camera pans to inside the store where Rachel is currently pointing at Lauren. "I saw it first!" She is bent down a little with her abdomen on her cart. "You're doing this on purpose."

"Okay, first of all," Lauren says as she polishes her glasses while holding purple velvet curtains, "you are crazy for trying to take me down with a shopping cart. Second, you don't know what I want to do with it. Third, back the hell off. This is my fabric."

"Are you kidding? I bet that fabric wouldn't even cover your-"

"Capture the Flag shoppers, you have fifteen minutes left to grab your items and that includes getting in line for the register. Shop on, Flagerinos."

Rachel's eyes go feverish as she barrels past Lauren on her way to the paint department to try and find that exact shade of purple. Amused, Lauren puts the curtain back and begins to walk away.

"That was too easy," Lauren says in a camera interview. "For real? I didn't even want it. I just saw her grab it and thought, what the hell. She'll be fun to screw with. And I was right."

The madness slows for a bit getting back in the vans, but once people get to work in their white spaces, things become chaos again very quickly.

"So I see Finn," Dave begins, "over there using the equipment...well, wrong. The guys looks like he's going to the bathroom or something and the noises he's making with his face. I don't know, he's clearly not the guy you picked for sex appeal."

A clips shows Dave watching Finn with an eyebrow cocked and then waiting for the right moment. "You need some help with that?"

Finn looks back and smiles, his nose doing a rabbit twitch. "Sure, that'd be great. So I got this.."

"Crown molding," Dave nods. "I saw. I was at the other end of the aisle. But what are you doing with it? The space doesn't have a ceiling. It'll look ridiculous."

Finn nods eagerly at this. "Oh, I know! I have this idea of cutting the pieces and making a...wait, you're just trying to steal ideas!"

Dave shakes his head, his chin tucked into his neck. "What? No. I just don't want you to hurt yourself is all."

"Well thanks for looking out for me, but I'm pretty sure I've got this. Second year cabinet maker intern. Best in my class."

Finn turns around back to the machine as a shot of Dave blinking in a camera interview begins. "Moral of the story? Don't try to help the tall guy. Especially when you actually have smart things to accomplish."

Then the interview camera turns to Puck, holding out his arms wingspan with fingers in the air. "My plan is brilliant. So, it's a white room, right? So, make it not white anymore!"

A shot of Tina is next, several inflatable parrots in her arm as she watches, mouth open as a shirtless Puck is painting a cavalcade of diagonal neon colored stripes on the wall. He grunts like a mad beast in heat and she blinks.

"I don't know if he's trying to be a distraction," she says in a camera interview, "but it's working. He looks insane. And that's saying a lot. I did an entire semester on Andy Warhol in college."

"Problem?" Mike comes up and asks in her ear, breaking Tina out of the trance.

"No," she says with a head shake that ends her hypnotized watching of Puck throwing paint everywhere and walks past with Mike to where their two spaces are next to each other.

"So, while everyone else was running through the aisles," she begins while blowing up the inflatable animals and Mike dips a roller in light blue paint, "we went to the clearance section."

"Yeah," Mike seconds, "since summer's over, they were having a mad sale on astroturf and this...I don't even know what to call this. It's like sky blue that wants to be sky blue but couldn't get a high school diploma and got a GED instead or something. Anyways, it was on sale."

"So we're thinking," Tina shrugs as she grabs scissors to start to cut up the astroturf carpet, "why not throw a backyard beach party?"

Quinn's camera interview comes next. "So, about that girl with the pink fetish..."

The camera shows Sugar ripping into the innards of a big teddy bear.

Quinn continues to speak, "Yeah. Did they not do a background check before the show or is she just the freak act? I'm wondering if she should be allowed around tools of any kind."

"Look. It's genius. I hate white. White is boring," Sugar answers as if talking to herself. "What's not boring? Pink and fuzzy, especially fuzzy teddy bears. So I'm like making this space reflect the interior of my fuzzy pink soul! You got a problem with that?" She asks the cameraman with a tilt of her head.

Jesse St. James appears soon enough through a door attached to the work room, where the spectre of six tables and twelve chairs haunts each of the designers and pushes them to work harder and faster. He skips a beat and then smiles before beginning.

"Designers, you have an hour left before the work day ends here and then we will pick up tomorrow where you will have three hours to complete the white room challenge before you are whisked away and the judges take a look at your creations. Now, there are only twelve beds, which means two of you are stuck on the couch tonight. Good luck, designers, and sweet dreams."

"I have a bad back so I know I deserve a bed. I suffer enough being this tall and I've kind of been this Frankenteen guy for a long time, so I'm not proud of what I did but I kind of..played my angles," Finn says in a camera interview as he rolls his head around his shoulders with a guilty air about his words. "I may have made up a medical condition. But, I mean Dave and Sam both volunteered for couches so it's not like I lied all that much!"

There's too much chaos for the camera crew to get anything good as the fourteen bunk for the night, so after commercials, the game returns to the tv screen in full swing.

"I don't know what they're all complaining about," Santana says, still wearing her sunglasses and now filing hot red jungle nails in her camera interview. "Styles change every three hours in New York, I see no reason for this competition to be any different. 'Sides that, I'm actually pretty much done with my room. Just going through, being the best perfectionist bitch I can be. And then going around and laughing at all the sorry ass rooms. I mean, like that two twinsie Asian folks with their backyard bbq theme. I mean, get a room. Seriously."

Jesse St. James comes in from the same doors and speaks louder this time, his smile replaced by a scowl. "Designers, tools down and step away from your rooms! It's time to find out how you did."

As the designers are ushered away into Haven Lounge, three stern judges with notepads and cameras come in, inspecting the corners of each of the rooms. None of the designers seem in the mood to speak until Kurt breaks the ice.

"Well, I for one, think that my room is exquisite. It's unique, defiant, and is anything but white."

"What's wrong with white, though?" Dave asks. "I mean, the point of the white room challenge isn't to get rid of the white."

"Then what is?" Kurt asks.

"Well, I don't know," Dave says with a little huffiness in his voice. "Maybe it's for you to embrace the white paint or work around the white paint. I mean, it doesn't have to be this grand thing. It really doesn't."

Dave and Kurt kind of stare at each other for a moment when Jesse St. James walks into the room. "Now normally, the judges would only ask for certain number of people or a team but since this is the first challenge, they'd like to meet all of you as a group. Follow me to the Judges Chamber."

They file in, solemnly and a bit like awkward ducks in row. The fourteen contestants find themselves lined up on two lit risers, spaced apart like they were going to sing on a stage.

Jesse St. James stands to the right of the three judges in their directors chairs and the contestants and judges blink back at each other for a moment before he opens the ceremonies.

"Designers, you know our panel of judges. Contributing editor of Architecture Review and freelance reporter for GQ Architecture scene, Mr. Will Schuester."

"Hi Jesse," he says with a smile. "Great to be back. I was impressed by what you guys pulled off, I tip my hat to you," Will says with a little bow that shows his tan Mraz fedora off.

"Once again, William, you've made me the hard ass. But that's okay, because someone should be. Sue Sylvester, twelve time winner of the Digest Regency Bonner award and personal evangelizer of the Eames chair revamp from 2005. I have the exact opposite impression as William. Your rooms are horrifying. I'd can the whole lot of you if you actually worked in one of my design spaces."

"Thank you, Sue. You're a delight as always," Jesse says without missing a blink. "And finally, we have last year's Flag champion, Architect of Denver Designs and all around good egg- Blaine Anderson."

"It's an honor to be here," Blaine says while scratching a spot on one of his designer argyle socks underneath his tight pants.

"How does it feel to be on this side of the judges panel this time around?"

"God," Blaine says as he thinks for a moment, "I remember how nervous I was last year, every time I stood there. Just remember to breathe and remember, you were picked because you are the best. Just do the best you can."

"Dear God, you sound like William," Sue quipped in. "They should have brought back Unique."

"Well, I'm happy you're here," Jesse breaks in. "Not only were you fan favorite, but also you were the design winner. The prizes for season four are the same as from seasons past. A chance to host a three month design showcase at the Savannah Awards Design House, a commission for Flag Architecture review, and finally- 50,000 dollars to improve your own design business."

Jesse let the prizes sink in before continuing. "Before we hear the judge's critiques, let's take a look at your design rooms."

Pictures of the rooms flash on giant televisions behind the judges heads. They look forward at the designers without blinking.

Sugar's room is carpeted with pink shag. In the middle is a green tea table set for kids with chairs that look like giant teddy bears. The walls are the same shade of pink as the carpet and one of the walls has a small yellow butterfly drifiting lazily in it.

Mercedes has left her walls white, but hung commemorative looking panels on them with sports figures. She has two leather recliners at angles to each other and a silver ice bucket atop a zebra print throw rug.

Noah's room is diagonally striped neon craziness against the back walls, imperfect drips and all. A dramatic red couch sits in the center with white pillows as accents that have been dripped with paint like the walls. A neon silhuette of a reclined girl hangs in the back.

Artie Abrams painted his walls a subtle shade of Dior grey and painted a chest of drawers in Dior grey that he marbled with black to give it an almost cracked look. He laid down linoleum in black and white checkerboard patterns and laid a huge glass vase with silver twigs in it on top of the dresser.

Rachel's walls are the purple shade that the curtain would have given her but without the volume. There is a gold accent at the corners to represent tassels and a raised platform in the center that is the same shade of deep purple, two circles- a smaller inside of a bigger and there is a showpiece of glittered star in the center.

Mike's walls are an obnoxious shade of summer blue with cotton clouds dabbed over them. He managed to cut his astorturf in such a way to look as though he has a pool in the same space. Bamboo deck chairs and a bunch of scattered paper umbrellas on a bamboo side table give it a touch of whimsy.

Lauren also made a diva den, but instead of pictures, she put wood paneling of different wood types on the wall, giving it a varied brown look. She also has two angled leather recliners, but in the center of them is a globe. Her floor has sawdust strewn about so it mirrors the walls.

Tina Cohen-Chang's backyard is more well-defined without the pool. She has the blue paint, but has also painted a version of an unpainted picket fence around it. Her inflatable pool animals are hot glued to create a column in the center of the space.

Santana's room looks like a New York nursery, complete with off white crib in the center. Her detailing on the New York City skyline and the Brooklyn Bridge on the back wall gives the space a larger look, as though it is moving.

Kurt's space has no hint of white left to it. Dark blue denim material is patched with solid silver staples, made to look like a variety of zipping angles that aren't straight in any capacity. Underneath the denim you can see peeks of black where Kurt left the zipper space open. He has no furniture in his space.

Finn's room is accented with lava lamps in each corner. His only furniture is three saw horses connected by untreated long planks of wood. His corner mouldings are all cut and nailed it at different angles. Large marbles gives a bit of dynamic color to the space and a hint of whimsy.

Sam's space looks like Tina and Mike's, the only exception is that the execution of it includes a different shade of blue that is more pleasing to the eye and the construction of a classic tiki bar, complete with torches and hanging tan taffeta split to look like a hula skirt for decoration.

Quinn's whole space is pink, but more subtle than Sugar. White wicker chairs offset the different shades of pink fabric across the wall and floor. In the center is a small wicker table with a plastic wedding cake on top.

Dave's space is last and his space is the only that can say it is truly white. The walls are covered with a variety of hollowed out squares, squares inset inside them, in various shades of white. He's covered the floor with a third shade of white and a nearly white but almost yellow runner runs down the middle of the floor. His furniture is a backless setee with a slight accent of gold in the arm and a table with a white towel draped over it and white lily flowers blooming upward.

Jesse St. James begins to speak as the televisions go blank again. "Now that the judges have had a chance to review and critique your work, I'd like to give them a chance to speak to you before they deliberate and send two designers home."


	3. White Room Challenge, Part 2

"Okay," Will said as he looked down at his note cards. "Who is Mercedes Jones?"

"I am," Mercedes said, her voice bereft of her usual confidence.

"What were you trying to achieve with your room?" Will asked as her zebra rug den came back up on the big screen.

"I wanted to give the flavor of a man cave but Mercedes style. I hung changeable large portraits on the wall to add some masculine flavor to the space and accented with animal print, which is a personal touch from the house of Jones."

"Mercedes, I look at you here with your neon colors and your personality and I don't see it in that room. I feel really underwhelmed by it. I mean, the rug would have been a nice touch but it feels out of place in your man cave."

Blaine nodded at Will's comment. "I have to agree. It feels really safe to me Mercedes, and in this competition, safe is a killer. If this is the best you have then I'm not sure if this is the right place for you."

"Okay," Mercedes said in defense of herself. "But I thought if I let my full personality bloom too soon I would give you too much, thought it best to ease you into it a little."

"All I feel eased into is a coma," Sue snapped. "I want to talk to- I think it was- Asian Girl about her backyard space."

Mercedes' room flashes from the screen and is replaced by the blue and green room with a column of hot glued inflatable creatures. "What on God's green earth made you think we would like this?"

"I wanted to take a risk," Tina began, "and I thought if I played it too safe and just did some tiki torches or something that I would not be showing you that I'm unafraid to try things."

"Yes," Will said with a furrowed brow, "but there's also a practical side to this competition. It looks daring, but.."

"Sloppy," Sue finished. "It's an inflatable fun house totem pole with no reason or confidence. Asian Boy and Gay Surfer both also made backyard spaces, but their spaces were better executed and had functionality behind them."

"Woah, I'm not gay. Not that being gay isn't cool or anything.."

"DID YOU JUST INTERRUPT ME?" Sue exclaimed while staring daggers at Sam.

"No ma'am," Sam replied.

"Okay, moving on," Blaine Anderson began. "I'd like to review the room of...Kurt Hummel?"

"That's me? And if I may," Kurt began as he raised his hand," I would like to explain the room."

Blaine shook his head. "There's not much need. You took a huge risk including no furniture and mocking up those staples. But there's a uniformity to the pattern that you don't see at first. With the right accents, It's very close to genius."

Will nodded. "I agree. And Mr. Anderson has proved he has an eye for eccentric patterns. I remember that room from last year with the pennies motif that I thought was insane but then I looked at it again and was super impressed."

Blaine looked over at Will. "I think I won a prize for that, didn't I?"

Sue looked between her two fellow judges. "Okay fellas, kiss later. We have more rooms to go through. Teddy bear princess room! Where are you?"

"That's me," Sugar says, peeking out from behind Noah's mohawk. "I really, really like pink."

Blaine flourished with his hand for emphasis. "It's got a great set-up, no one's going to deny that. I like this as a back story and I think Will will agree with me that this would be an interesting story concept for any architecture magazine, but.."

"But?" Sugar squeaked.

"But is it Capture The Flag material?" Blaine said uneasily, "I'm not sure."

"I disagree," Sue injectured. "I am intrigued by how you gored those teddy bears to create theme chairs out of nothing and the shag was a risk. Reminds me of this Apocalypse Now tea room I did for a retired three star general. I find this room more acceptable than over half the other challengers. Is this a winning room? No. But it is at least slightly more innovative than the others. Now, New York Bridge room!"

Sue snapped her fingers and Santana looked out from behind her sunglasses. "This is mine. It's a dream design I concepted for a New York fashion couple. The actual room never came to fruition because they questioned too much of the design and I do not compromise."

Will thought for a moment. "It's very daring and graphic. It could have come off completely wrong, but with you it looks amazing. It's quite an achievement for the time limit and it's very impressive."

"I love the way," Blaine continued from where Will left off, "that you took the dimensions of the room and you gave it a flow and movement that most of the other rooms didn't achieve. You certainly prove here that you are a force to be reckoned with, Santana Lopez, and it will be a pleasure to see what you design for us in the future."

"Thank you," Santana said as though she had been expecting the praise all along.

Will sighed. "Okay, I know we're running long but we have more rooms to see. Some of them look a little sloppy and unfinished. The room with the neon stripes was innovative but messy looking...Mr. Puckerman? And there was a room with a dresser in dior grey and marble black, points for efforts but missed execution, Mr. Abrams. Finally, we have the unfinished purple room...Ms. Berry?"

"Yes. And originally the walls would have had more volume instead of just being painted, but another competitor refused to give up the material."

"You sound like you're making excuses," Sue said in an accusatory tone, removing her reading glasses for a moment.

"I'm simply stating..."

"I know what you're stating, Barbara," Sue snarled, "but this is not a competition in who can make the best excuses. This is the fourth season and none of this boo-hoo crap will cut it. You can't find what you want, you get enterprising. Excuses are not an option."

"But if I could..."

"You may not. William, were there any rooms you actually liked this week?"

"There was a white room," Will said quietly, "very subtle. About ten shades of white in the room, actually. Blended together, texture on the walls from different types of squares. Whose room was that?"

"Mine," Dave said, looking like he was sweating a little.

Will nodded. "It was a good try. Not very daring, but your execution was fantastic. You definitely have an eye and a vision and I can't imagine why anyone who saw this room wouldn't hire you for a job. Is it Capture the Flag material? Well.."

"I disagree," Blaine butted in. "I think it could be. There's a lot of promise in this season, though, so step your game up. Give us something unexpected. Challenge yourself."

Dave nodded. "Thanks, thank you so much."

"Okay," Jesse St. James clapped his hands together, "the judges have given their two cents, contestants, please head back to the Haven Lounge and you'll be called back after the judges have deliberated."

The judges waited until the designers had left before Sue launched into an attack. "Let me just state for the record, that the potential in this group is very low."

"You always say that, Sue," Will stated. "You even said that about Unique in the beginning."

"Yes, but then I was surprised when Mr. Sister proved me wrong."

"I think we can all agree who the winner was this week," Blaine said.

Sue and Will nodded. "Yes, I can easily pick the top three for myself," Sue added. "But we need to decide whose leaving this week. That Barbara girl..."

"Was not attacking you, Sue," Will said, "she was merely trying to stand up for her room."

"I hate excuses and I don't like people who make them, you know that William. If we decide to let her stay, you can guarantee I will have my eye on her room from now on."

Blaine rubbed his hands together nervously. "I have to admit, the rooms that I really didn't see any potential in were..."

A camera interview with Lauren cuts off Blaine's sentence. "This is great. Ms. Berry got on Sue's bad side and I knocked her pretty much out of the running. Best white room challenge ever."

While Rachel glared at Lauren, Dave looked at Kurt while his camera interview runs in the background. "I don't get what they see in him. Would I praise him for that room? No way. There was nothing about his room to like! What? You can't even put a damn ottoman in there? Who the fuck would buy a room made out of denim?! If he stays, I just don't know what I'm going to do."

Sugar looks deflated in her camera interview, even her bow tie is a little limp. "That was horrible. Do we have to go through this every week?"

"I can't believe they dissed on my room," Noah barked. "My room was way better than Mr. Crown Molding whatever the hell!"

Jesse St. James enters the unnatural silence of the Haven Lounge with a grave disposition about himself. "Follow me back to the Judges Chambers. They've decided which two designers will be going home this week."

The designers fall in line again and end up at the same spaces they were before on the staircase. The judges blink back at them until Jesse turns up again by their side. He reads from note cards.

"Welcome to the first elimination of Season Four. Fourteen of you stand before me, but two designers will be leaving this week. That means your designs did not show what the judging panel was looking for and you'll be asked to leave immediately. Will the following designers please step forward? Finn Hudson, Lauren Zises, Noah Puckerman, Artie Abrams, Mike Chang, and Sam Evans. Your designs were all acceptable. You are neither winners this week, nor are you in the bottom. You may leave the Judges Chambers."

Slowly they file out, but not before Mike stops at Tina's hand and gives it a squeeze.

"Well, now that we've cut the wheat from the chaff, I will say that you eight represent the best and the worst of this fourth season. If you are in the top or the bottom, I will be watching you very closely to see what you do in the following weeks. My suggestion? Get your shit together, because I do not play for fun times."

"Thank you, Sue," Will says. " Will Sugar Mott, Quinn Fabray, and Dave Karofsky please step forward? Your designs were very good this week. I'd like to congragulate you on your efforts and can't wait to see what you create in the weeks to come."

"Holy shit," Dave says in voiceover as he leaves the chamber. "I thought they really hated what I made. This is really cool. Can't wait to show them that you don't need patchwork denim to be classy or breakthrough."

Blaine looks down at his card next. "Santana Lopez and Kurt Hummel, please step forward. As you are all well aware, winning the white room challenge is both a gift and a curse. We all remember what happened to Donatello when he won, so take this as a challenge. You've shown us amazing designs this week but it is a heavy mantle. Accept the crown with pride but don't let it get to your head. We expect the best from you from now on. The winner of The White Room Challenge is Santana Lopez."

The zoom from Kurt to Santana's face is a study in facial change. She remains impassive, merely showing a small smile while Kurt's shock is real in being so close to being this week's winner. He covers his mouth with his hands and follows Santana back to the Haven Lounge.

"Okay," Jesse sighs. "Three designers left standing here and one spot remains in the competition. The question is: Who stays and who goes?" Jesse takes a moment to read his card and then looks at the designers. "Rachel Berry, your designs are not finished here yet. Mercedes Jones and Tina Cohen-Chang, we must ask you to leave."

"No!" Comes a shout from outside the room, Mike Chang barreling in and running to stand by Tina's side. "Send me home first! She's so much more brilliant than me! And I won't stay in this competition without her."

Security is just seen on the camera shot as the judges deliberate. "Fine," Sue snarls. "But this is your one and only get out of jail free card, Asian Girl. You will be watched very closely next week and your design better stand above the rest. I swear to God, if I see another inflatable totem pole, I will buy you a parrot that will give you tuberculosis. Understand?"

"I don't understand why he did that," Tina says while her mascara runs in a camera interview, "but he's an amazing guy and my best friend and this competition can't be the same without him."

Mike nods, looking into the camera soulfully. "I did what I had to do. She's the designer, I just do the building. I know she's got amazing skill and I just couldn't stand by and do nothing when I heard she was going home."

Mercedes sighs as they show her walking through the work room back to the metal door. "This sucks. I don't deserve to be going home. I played it safe and I regret that decision. But you haven't heard the last of Miss Jones and her animal print design, no sir! The best is yet to come."


	4. Party Planning Challenge, Part 1

"It definitely feels less crowded in the work room with only twelve," Dave admits in an on-camera interview. "I mean, it's really an even number of people and tables now. And I could think about why we have drawing pads on our desks if I could concentrate. I mean, that guy is wearing a cape today. And not just any cape. It's like plaid scarves mated on it or something. Between him and Mr. "I wear a parrot on my head so I need half an hour to prep in the morning" Guy, I feel like they're running head games on me."

"So," Sam says in his interview kick off, "we're chilling there and waiting for Jesse to tell us what our next challenge is and I start noticing the Dave guy stealing glances over in sweater kid's direction. Something is definitely going on there, but I can't tell what. It's weird. We've been doing this like two days and he's already on the kid's case. I mean, dude? Seriously? They don't have gay people in whatever state you come from?"

"Good morning designers," Jesse starts off with a smile aimed around the room. "Twelve left and the competition's just begun. But just because we've started doesn't mean you get a chance to rest on your laurels. We're gonna start today with a mini-challenge that could decide the balance of power this week. You ready?"

"Ready!" Lauren barks from where she's sitting next to Sugar.

"Okay," Jesse continues, "you'll find that on each table are two blank notepads and a variety of colored pencils. You have ten minutes to design a cake. And go."

People start feverishly beginning to draw and Artie/Finn's table erupts in a clattering of noise when their cup spills. Finn dives for the pencils that start rolling off the table, wasting valuable time.

"Did I knock over that pencil cup on purpose? Absolutely not," Artie says in a camera interview. "I'm not a klutz. But I think I am the only one who noticed how weird Finn's room was last week and I need him to get kicked off this week, or at least knock him down a notch. The weird room challenge is coming and I can't have avante garde taste like that besting me in this competition. Plus, his cake looked like Swamp Thing made love to Ginger Spice, so I didn't really see a problem anyways."

"So," Quinn says, "I know I did the predictable thing and made a wedding cake, but I couldn't help myself. Besides, wedding cakes are statuesque and beautiful. How do we say it in the business? The higher the cake, the closer to God?"

"Okay, colored pencils down. Let's see what you've got," Jesse states.

"I'm looking around at the cake designs," Lauren starts in an interview, "and there's about seven different variation of wedding cake happening. Besides for my wrestling ring cake, there's about three others out there that look okay. And then there's tall guy's cake...what's his name? It's a part of a fish, I know this one..."

"Finn, what kind of cake is that?" Jesse asks with amusement playing in the corner of his eyes.

"It's umm...," Finn has to look at the notebook again and then turns his paper on the side in response, "it's a cake that looks like a yak. I saw it on this one episode of Ace of Cakes where they have this play-doh press thing and..."

"That's great. It's really...innovate," Jesse says as he struggles for words. "And Rachel, what have you got there?"

"Oh," Rachel says with surprise. "It's a cupcake cake, the kind that pulls apart? Not only did I try to capture the feeling of stars but then I layered it with blue white comets on top and arranged it so everyone gets the same amount of frosting, which is best part of the cake."

"Suck up," Lauren hisses under her breath when Jesse is out of ear shot, causing a glance from Rachel.

"I see a lot of amazing drawings here but I think Rachel's is the best, certainly the most innovative. Why don't you join me up here?"

"Innovative?" Sugar asks in a camera interview. "That's not really that hard to make. In fact, I made a pan of cupcakes once that came out of the oven already pull-apart ready cause they all had too much batter in them. The one time I didn't lick the beaters..."

"You ready to find out what you won, Rachel?"

Rachel nods while balling up her hands in her fist, her gold cardigan tight against her chest. "Ready, Jesse!"

"Well Rachel, it's actually going to be your job to pair people up for the main challenge this week. Go ahead and pick carefully because these designers will be stuck with each other for the whole week and your team will get a slight advantage over the rest."

"I'm spending the entire time praying I don't stuck with Fancy Capes McGee," Dave says in a deadpan drawl to the camera.

"Oh my God, if this bitch sticks me with that tiny girl in pink that sounds like a squeaky chew toy, I'm seriously going to have to consider breaking her in half," Lauren states in a camera interview.

"It really didn't matter who they paired me with," Santana says with her arms crossed, "because I'm the best there will ever be. So bring it."

Kurt rolls his eyes. "I'm sure the gods of design would love nothing more than to watch me and Santana rip each other to shreds."

"Okay," Rachel says as she clasps her hands behind her back. "I'd really like to work with Santana on this challenge. And I think...you, Tina was it? With Dave. And let's put together blond guy with Kurt. How about this table together? And these tables? Yeah, that'll be good."

"So the teams you have picked are you and Santana Lopez, Dave Karofsky and Tina Cohen-Chang, Sam Evans and Kurt Hummel, Lauren Zises and Sugar Motta, Artie Abrams and Finn Hudson, and Noah Puckerman and Quinn Fabray. Any changes you want to make?" Jesse asks.

"No Jesse, I think that will work just fine," she says with utter confidence.

"Then why don't we have the designers move around so they are sitting with their pairs while I go get the special guest judges for this round."

As Jesse moves away, people begrudgingly begin to move to their new spaces and more than one pair just stare at each other.

"How did I know?" Lauren began in her camera interview. "Who called it? I called it."

"I'm thinking the entire time," Quinn states in her on-camera spot, "where did they dig this guy up at? He looks like a cartoon character. And his room last week...I don't know. There's something very unpolished about him. Not at all attractive."

"I don't see the problem with the person I got picked to be with, she seems awesome. As long as she likes pink," Sugar states in an interview.

"Of course there was strategy involved. Strategy is my middle name," Rachel states as she leans in a little to the camera as though she's sharing a secret with it. "First off, you put me with the winner from last competition so I can get better but not too good. Pair that hateful big girl with the tiny pink one and watch them rip each other apart. Let the rest work itself out. It's pure genius."

"Designers," Jesse begins as he walks two ladies into the work room space. He has his hand on the back of a woman that looks like she could be his mother with blond hair and another who looks like she could be Rachel's mother, dark hair and all. "I'd like to introduce you to the two CEOs of Corcoran Party Planners, Pixie and Shelby. They've been photographed in Martha Stewart Living, sat on several panels for inaguaral presidential dance design, and even won a graphic standard award from SFMOMA for their unforgettable "dinosaurs on roller skates" display."

"Yes, that was quite unforgettable," Shelby says with a smile. "My sister and I are honored to be here and can't wait for the chance to work with you all. Now, at Corcoran Party Planners, we seperate our business into three divisions: holiday events planning, birthday events planning, and a wedding specific sector. Each sector has different needs, with the wedding sector being most challenging. We'll wait to see if any of you are ready for that task."

Quinn nods and then an on-camera interview shows her face. "Shelby Corcoran is right. Anyone who thinks any of these people are ready to tackle a wedding just yet is kidding themselves. And does anyone else think that mohawk guy smells like rancid onions?"

"Okay," Shelby nods to herself. "We're going to divide the room in half. You three tables will work on holiday event planning with me and the right half of the room will work with Pixie on birthday events planning. Now, this is not just going to be about room design. Each event is specific to a person or group and my company's reputation is on the line, so I expect hard work, diligence, and the ability to work through a crisis if one arises. Alright? Let's get down to business."

Pixie and Shelby walk to the first table on their side of the room. Shelby holds up red, blue, and yellow paint chips while Pixie holds up purple, green, and orange paint chips. Each table is expected to pick a chip and then Shelby and Pixie begin again at each table with instruction.

"Please introduce yourselves and tell me which paint chip you chose." Shelby and Pixie state to each table.

"My name is Rachel Berry and I'm working with..."

"Santana Lopez, a pleasure miss Corcoran. And we've chosen the red paint chip."

"Of course. Well, the red paint chip means you are hosting a Valentines themed party for the opening of a new Amazon branch for 300 customer service technicians."

"Bitch, please," Santana says in a camera interview. "I am not your second in command. Santana Lopez does not play well with others."

"Hello," Dave says as he extends a handshake and a warm smile to Pixie. "My name is Dave and this is Tina and it looks like we're the purple team."

Pixie smiles at Dave and Tina. "You're in luck, then. The purple paint chip is a birthday party for a sixteen year old socialite. And remember, she's sixteen but she's a hip sixteen."

Dave sighs in an interview. "You know, I tried to be chivalrous and let Tina pick the paint chip, but oh no- she couldn't pick green or orange. She had to pick purple. Damn it."

"If I may," Kurt says as he extends his hand with a little bow to Shelby. "My name is Kurt Hummel and this is Sam Evans and we are team blue."

Kurt looks up with the tilt of his head in a camera interview. "I feel as though, coming into this competition being the only openly gay designer here, that I have an obligation to help my straight colleagues in any way I can. I would have rather had red, but blue is still definitely better than yellow in my book. Not that there's anything wrong with yellow, mind you, unless its egg yolk yellow. No, just no."

"The blue paint chip," Shelby begins," is a baby shower. But not just any baby shower. It's a baby shower for the president of the 30 person sorority house. The house is dry, so that means so alcohol, not a single mimosa in sight."

"My name is Sugar," she squeaks in Pixie's general direction as Lauren crosses her arms. "And this is Lauren and we are so happy to meet you!"

"Why thank you, and what color did you pick?" Pixie asks with a smile.

"Green," Lauren states in the work room and then starts on a tangent in an on-camera interview. "If Berry thinks she can just shuffle me off to buffalo sticking me with pink girl, she has another thing coming. I swear to God, if the first words out of this girl's mouth after Shelby has given us our assignment is pink or watermelon, I will personally string her up by her fuzzy pink boa. And Lauren don't play no games."

"The green paint chip is probably the most important out of the six. Your birthday party is a charity event for the St. Raphaelite Orphanage. You will be throwing a birthday party for the 30 girls that live there. And they don't get birthday parties every year, so make this one count."

"Hello, I'm Finn Hudson and this is Artie Abrams and we are team yellow."

Finn shakes his head. "I really wanted red. It's one of my spirit colors from high school. But I mean, it's fine. I'll just pretend that I can do gold, you know. Cause yellow is kind of a wussy color, but that's the risk you take when you sit in the back, I guess."

"Okay, yellow," Shelby says with a grin, "are you ready for this? You have to create the perfect solstice-themed bash for Solstice, the hottest new club on the scene. Good luck."

"I'm Quinn Fabray and this is my...associate Noah Puckerman, and we have the orange paint chip."

"Nice to meet you both," Pixie says with a nod. Your orange paint chip is a birthday party for a Hollywood producer. You need to decide the venue and be able to accomodate a 200 person guest list, give or take. I hope you have your wits about it, because one minute you're in and the next, you're out."

Shelby and Pixie walk back to the front of the room, where Jesse has been standing with hands clasped behind her back. "Okay teams, you have your assignment. Each team has 3000 dollars of play money, with Rachel's team given an extra 500 because she won the mini challenge. Team orange? That 3000 does not figure into your place rental budget, but don't go stir crazy, alright? Does everyone have their assignments? You have an hour to make plans and then we're sending you off shopping."


	5. Party Planning Challenge, Part 2

Jesse, Shelby, and Pixie all leave the work room and the groups begin to draw and talk like mad. The camera begins to focus in on Green Team's table.

"Okay," Sugar says. "This is like the most super important thing we could be doing and I think we should give these kids like the best party ever."

"I couldn't agree more," Lauren says as she adjusts her glasses. "That's why I'm thinking.."

"A pinata? Ooh, a pink pony pinata filled with spicy hot candies and little pink cakes for each kid with their name in white frosting and little-"

"Hold up," Lauren replies. "Did I say anything about using pink?"

"I didn't-"

"You realize," Lauren begins quietly and with a deadly air that makes the room freeze for a moment around Sugar. "That my career is at stake and so is the Corcoran Party Planners, right? You want pinatas and pink. Good for you. Save it for someone who cares. If you think I'm doing anything girly at this party, you can suck it up and go ahead and tell the producers you want off now. Because pink ain't happening. Deal with it. Now my idea-"

Sugar blinks for a moment and then begins talking at an unreasonable volume, distracting the rest of the players. "No pink," she repeats until it becomes a shriek. "No pink? No pink! No pink?! No pink. Who do you think you're talking to, lard ass?!"

Several jaws hang open all around as the work comes to a standstill.

Rachel's camera interview is her looking smug for almost five minutes and then then smiling at the camera before she speaks. "Like I said. Kill each other. I may not have a social life, but I sure know how to play to my strengths."

"My name is Sugar Motta," she says in a nearly hysterical voice. "My daddy set me up in his ad department because I am special and sweet like pink cotton candy and no one. No One! is gonna tell me that I can't have pink. Espeically not some nowhere designer from hicksville who needs approval from some stick figure in a track outfit who doesn't even know which side of a paint swatch is up! This is a party for girls. A girls orphanage! They like pink! All girls like pink and are pretty goddamn princesses and if you don't like it you can just leave!"

When Lauren doesn't move within the first five seconds, Sugar grabs for her beaded fringe purse and storms out of the work room. A producer appears, his lone figure shrouded while Sugar is on camera.

"I know. I know. I lost it in there. No, I don't wanna quit. Yeah, I know. I just gotta...can I call my daddy? I know, that's what I said when I signed up but it's really- how about if I have a new team mate? Okay."

Sugar takes a few minutes to compose herself and then walks back in and smiles at Lauren. "Okay, I thought it over and I think we should compromise."

"Compromise? You're a crazy person. There's nothing I want to compromise about with you. I'm throwing this party. If you think you're going anywhere with me, you've got another thing coming. I am not getting murdered on the way to any store or event. At least not this week. I lived in Baltimore for two years. I saw three people get mugged in one day and have personally pepper sprayed three wise ass assailants who thought I didn't mean business. It was hot as balls. I'm gonna keep it real right now. Your designs are shit, your ideas are shit. Pink is shit. We're doing this- what I drew while you were having your damn breakdown. This is what we're doing or you can get the fuck out."

"Okay," Sugar said, looking at the design. "But what about the girls who like pink? I mean, don't we have enough money that we could go halvies on stuff and have one really great party?"

Lauren squinted at Sugar. "Maybe we can. You take five minutes, get your ideas down and then we'll see if they fit."

Lauren shakes her head in a camera interview. "Damn it, I don't know what the hell they told her when she stormed out but I thought she was leaving. And now I still gotta do this fucking thing with her. I better not be leaving this week because I got stuck with a hysteric by star girl."

"Well, that was interesting," Quinn says as she looks at Noah. "Shall we get down to business?"

"No problem, babe," Noah says with a smile. "And call me Puck. All the ladies do."

"Okay," Quinn says with a sigh. "Ground rules for working together on this challenge. First, I am not your baby. I am not anyone's baby except for my daddy and even then he knows better. Second, look at you. You are a mess. Your room last week was unpolished and distracting. You are a disgrace to the design profession and I had to once work with a guy who listened to nothing but Meatloaf and thought that antler shelving was the height of decor. I don't know where you came from or why you smell like onions that spent a week in a garbage disposal, but I am not going home because you can't get your shit together. Are we clear?"

Noah's eyes fall a little bit. "Yes, ma'am. Can I at least contribute ideas to this?"

"Of course," Quinn says as she picks up a pencil and begins to sketch. "I didn't say you couldn't, but nothing happens without my say so, Mr... Puck right?"

"Puckerman, my last name's Puckerman," Noah says quietly, almost sounding shy. "They called me Puck when I was at junior college."

"Puck, then. See, it's not that hard to be polite. Now, my idea for a Hollywood party is to do something west coast, but with a definite east coast flavor. Maybe host a art showing, that wouldn't cost too much money. We should spend a large portion of the budget on food. Everyone at the party's gonna want to mingle."

"I agree," Puck says as he reaches for a pencil and starts sketching over Quinn's drawing. "But here's your issue, right here. An art showing? Look, I lived in LA for almost a decade and made ends meet by being a waiter at these types of parties. What you want is little touches, fabric here and here. If we can find a loft with a view for not too much cash, we can make it work, divide up the space into rooms. Give it a Studio 54 flair. And then we should sex it up a little."

Quinn shook her head. "Sex it up? Doesn't that seem a little tacky to you?"

"No way! If there's one thing the Puck knows, it's sex. Now, if you look over at this side, this is where we can put the photographer if we can find space with a second exit for a balcony. I know you guys have smoke ordinance issues, but people are still gonna wanna smoke."

"You really think we should have a photographer?"

"Actually, we need to get two. I need to look at the yellow pages app to see who I can find. I actually think doing an old school Playboy Bunny style mixer would be great. Bunnies are always in."

Quinn rolled her eyes. "And of course that means you're just going to have to audition them, aren't you?"

Noah shrugged. "It's hard work, but somebody's gotta do it. Look, I'll let you come along if you think I'm gonna get into that much trouble, but I didn't build a juice empire into high school if I didn't take my work seriously sometimes."

"Well Puck," Quinn said with a sigh as she closed her notebook. "I think we have the start of a plan. We should start pricing things so we stay on budget."

Noah nodded, taking out his phone and starting to look at reviews on Angie's List, one of the commercial sponsors of Capture the Flag. "I'll start to look up reviews and then we can do some pricing once we find out whose quality for catering and personnel."

Quinn pulled out her phone as well. "I'll start looking at places then."

They typed away for about ten minutes, Noah making notes on a piece of paper about items to remember when he looked up at Quinn, indulged in her work and smiled.

"Okay, I have to admit," Puck states in an interview. "I thought this blond chick was a total drag and a prude. I really wanted to get stuck with the Asian chick cause I love me some yellow fever but this Quinn girl has some good ideas. I mean, she was right. I'm badass but sometimes my finished products have been a little unprofessional. If I'm gonna win this competition, I gotta take any help I can get. I don't want to be in the middle or bottom ever again."

Jesse St. James strolls into the work room. "Okay, designers. Your hour is up. You're gonna head out to your team vans now. You have three hours left of daylight to scout your locations or you can head home, where you will find a variety of entertainment options to help set up your party thanks to Angies List and the iPhone 5 RT. If two teams pick the same ...say...caterer, though, they will have to just flip a coin to see who gets that person. Tomorrow, you will spend the day shopping and setting up your spaces. In two days times, your guests will arrive and you had better hope you've got a party to die for, or you may not live to see tomorrow's competition. Have a good day."

As soon as the van door shuts, Santana shoots daggers at Rachel. "Okay, star girl, here's the deal. We got nothing done in there. And I mean nothing. We spent ten minutes fighting over the concept of red being a Valentines cliche and that was after you tried to lick my boots cause you thought my nursery was great. Don't get me wrong, it was, but I hate working with ass kissers, so get your shit together."

"Look," Rachel replied, "I don't like this any more than you. But I picked you because you show the most promise. You're like me. We might kill each other, but we need to put out a good product before we do that."

"What product?! We can't even pick a location without me wanting to scratch your eyes out, send them to Benihana and then have the seared slices of eyeball mailed out to the four corners of the earth!"

Rachel looks down at her phone and begins typing something in. "As delightful as that image sounds, we've got work to do. Driver, I'm sending you an address."

"We're not going home?! We need to pick out the caterer! Have you lost what little mind you have? This is..."

Rachel looked up and shook her head. "First of all, my name's Rachel Berry. You don't know one goddamn thing about me or what I've been through. I know you don't trust me, I wouldn't trust me if I was in your shoes. But if there's one thing I'm good at, it's knowing when to go with my gut. We have about half an hour before we arrive, how about we not try to kill each other on the way there, hmm?"

Santana fumed for a moment and then folded her arms. "Fine. But where are we going?"

Rachel bit down on her lip. "When I found out I was accepted, I started doing research in every major city. Styles, locations, everything. I have more information in my personal Blackberry than the Kardashians have phone contacts and I think I got most of it on this iPhone. I have a hunch that our budget's barely goona squeak out a caterer but if everything works out, we're not gonna have any problems."

Santana shrugs in an interview. "If she gets me kicked off because of a hunch, I will straight up shank her ass. Make no mistake. Santana Lopez don't play when bills are hanging in the balance."

The camera pans away from the vans and back towards the apartments that the contestants are sharing. Tina and Dave sit on the couch, shuffling through menus and recommendation cards left by Corcoran's assistant and making notes, checking with each other occassionally about where their ideas are heading. They're only briefly interrupted by Lauren and Sugar's arguing as they enter, but then Lauren and Sugar attack the first caterer they see with questions, and Tina and Dave try and get back to work.

"You know," Tina says, "he's grumpy but he's not really a bad guy. Sure, I don't have the connection that I share with Mike and he's definitely anti-frilly, anti-girly items, which might be a problem for a socialite birthday party, but at least we're getting things done. He actually had this really cool idea for glass and it made me think. He's got something."

Dave shakes his head. "I don't know about this. I feel like we're wasting time. Nothing is working. Usually I get this gut moment and I just...I just can't seem to get the Karofsky mojo out. I feel like this is party planning and not design. I know it's the purple. It's gotta be. If only we could have had orange or green. I mean, I can work with green." Dave lets out the sigh of the well-worn. "We have a premise and we've spent half a budget but it's not a great party right now."

Dave looks up from the couch as Kurt and Sam burst through, Sam laughing at one of Kurt's jokes. "And so he says to the guy- Milan? I was asking for a cookie!"

"Dude, that's hilarious," Sam says, with a crinkle at his eyes, "where did you hear that one?"

Kurt shrugs. "Stanley Tucci. I met him in the Minneapolis airport of all places. You'd think someone like him would have a private jet, am I right?"

"That guy from the Hunger Games movie? Oh man. How are you so lucky?"

Kurt rolls his eyes and then shakes his head. "Not lucky, blessed." Then he notices Dave is just kind of staring at him, looking for all the world like he's going to pounce in anger. Kurt gives a little anxious half wave.

Sam purses his lips. "Second time today. I'm gonna have to have a real serious talk with this Karofsky guy. Something is not right here, and I'm beginning to wonder...you know what, I'll make it work. Kurt's a great guy. And he's got lots of ideas. And the caterers they brought in just thought he was the shit. He worked some magic getting our food budget down. It was amazing to watch."

The camera shows Kurt shaking hands with a caterer standing in the kitchen, holding out a menu. "I'm Kurt. Is this the menu? Oh, what a lovely color of blue this is too. Is that your favorite color? Well, you're in luck, maybe it's fate. I simply adore a crackled shade of robins egg."

Sam shakes his head. "I don't think that Karofsky guy understands how valuable Kurt is. I mean, his ideas for this baby shower rock. It's gonna be classy for getting sorority girls together with absolutely no alcohol."

Back across town, Santana gets out of the van after Rachel. She looks up at a three story tall brick building. Smoke billows somewhere out of a grate and the fire escape looks like it's about to fall away from the building completely.

"What kind of death trap have you brought us to?"

Rachel smiles. "Not a death trap. It's perfect." She holds her notepad close to her chest and beckons Santana inside. "Come on. You'll love it."

"She's not making a great case for this building," Santana says. "I mean, I'm okay to die in these shoes because these bitches were Prada that I pried from a drag queen dressed like Heidi Klum. That bitch had style and so do I. This building looks like a piece of shit death trap and I was about to tell her off but then she launches into this story about a flash mob and I smell mushroom rizotti and I'm starting to wonder where the hell we are."

"Don't you love it? The restaurant across the way caters for a discount and I think we might be able to get the room. Can't you just feel the creativity in here?"

"Holy shit, Berry. You may have actually just kept yourself from meeting death by nail file," Santana says as she looks around the room. "Does that place next door have a tasting menu and red wine? Cause this bitch isn't going back to the house tonight without a drink if she can help it."

Rachel nods and gives a smile. "Why don't we find out?"


	6. Party Planning Challenge, Part 3

It's evening and the makeshift designers are unwinding. Dave stands on the balcony, thinking and lighting a stogie as though he's dating it. He enjoys the scent of the smoke for a moment and then smiles to himself as he puffs out a small wreath around his head. He turns for a moment, cigar sliding into his hand as Sam joins him on the balcony.

"Kinda cold out here."

Dave shrugs. "It's pretty though. Something about the buildings and the lights, like Christmas year round."

"Yeah," Sam says as he walks over to the railing and looks out over the city, "I didn't really come here to make small talk."

"Mind if I smoke?" Dave asked as he went to take another puff of the cigar.

"Sure," Sam shrugs. "It's about that Kurt kid."

Dave stops in his tracks, the cigar near his lips. His eyes flash but he tries to play it cool. "What about that Kurt kid?"

"You're watching him. All the time. It's creepy. Seriously dude, have you never seen a gay person before?"

Dave cocks his head a little. "What are you trying to say? Are you calling me a fag?"

"Wha-no! I mean-," Sam said, raising his hands just a moment before Dave advanced with fists starting to ball.

"Because accusing me of being a fag would be dangerous for your health."

"Are you threatening me? I'm just trying to have a civil conversation with you, but if you really want to play this game, you don't want to mess with me. I will have you out of here in the back of an ambulance so quick that it will make your head spin."

"Bring it on," Dave snarled, who sneered at Sam until Sam left the patio with a roll of his eyes. The camera continues to pan on Dave, who resumes smoking his cigar and sighs quite heavily, spending most of the evening on the balcony staring out into the night.

Rachel and Santana return as Sam bolts out the open door, muttering something about a jog.

"What's wrong with Sam?"

"I don't know," Sugar squeaks. "He went out to talk to the guy who's smoking a cigar and then just ran through here like there was a sale on Minola Blaniks."

The next day begins on the van rides while people desperately try to figure out if they have all their preparations in place. Artie and Finn are in a heated discussion as the camera focuses on their van.

"I'm just saying that your idea has been done. Yay, it's a club called Solstice and woah, we're gonna use white ice everywhere. Please."

"I said I wanted to do a white and gold theme, that's all," Finn says as though he's losing the argument.

"Does anybody else think that maybe we should be concentrating on the design of the space? I appreciate that Ms. Corcoran and her sister have careers on the line. But I'm not a party planner. I'm a space designer. This is not my line of work."

"I don't know, man," Finn says in response. "Maybe it's like a test to see how far out of our element we can go."

"Which is why I'm stressing we not to do white for a club called Solstice! Can you see where I'm coming from here, Finn?"

Finn nods. "I can. But you haven't offered anything as a replacement, so I can't really go anywhere else."

Artie gives a little wincing pain face while he thinks. "Listen, I was writing some def jam poetry last night when it hit me that I didn't reallly like the idea of white, but I don't mind gold. What if we do a gold theme? But like desert gold? Oasis, belly dancers, the whole nine yards."

"Can we afford that?"

"Can we not? Listen, let's make a couple of calls and see if we can get some belly dancers. I mean, our food menu is set and all we have to do is find stuff to decorate the tables with and the belly dancers essentially provide the rest. All we'd need is a canvas canopy and those are well within our budget."

"If you think so. But if it fails, will you say it was your idea?"

Artie blinks at the camera, putting a hand over his mouth and sighing before he thinks. "Finn is so weak, so afraid of having an opinion. It's like pulling teeth. Don't get me wrong, I can play passive aggressive. I was the handicap mascot of my fraternity. But seriously man, you have to man up. This competition is going to eat you alive. Can you imagine what it would have been like for him to work with Santana?"

Back en route, Artie looks at Finn and says, "Sure," very slowly, as though he's not completely tracking with why he had to say it in the first place.

The camera shows the changing of times and then the designers coming to their spaces with full bags in hand. Lauren and Sugar are looking around the scope of a backyard.

"This backyard is barren. Except for the grass and some patio furniture, there is nothing for us to even decorate with. Luckily, my idea doesn't require a lot of effort. I'm more worried about what Sugar has planned. If this party sucks, it's gonna look bad for me. And I'm not okay with that."

"This place is so, so empty. It's so sad," Sugar says in a small voice.

"Aren't you glad we didn't do the pinata now?" Lauren acknowledges as she begins unpacking large bags of stuff.

Sugar squints at Lauren. "You know, you don't have to be so mean. I care just as much about this party as you."

"Prove it, then. Find out where the caterer you hired is."

"He said he was on the way."

"We have three hours until the party. He's not here yet. Get on that or these kids have no food."

"No food? At a birthday party?" It dawns on Sugar that she has a pink and white phone in her pink bag. "Oh yeah, I can call him." She smiles at Lauren and Lauren rolls her eyes as if Sugar should have done it five minutes ago.

"It's a great space," Quinn says with a shrug in a camera interview as the space switches over. "Noah, I'm sorry- Puck. Puck really knew what he wanted and he went after it. We've got gold brick, an open floor plan, and a view to-"

Noah pops in the interview. "You almost done? We've got a whole van to unload."

Quinn gives him an imperious glare. "I'll be there in a moment."

"Yeah. Whatever. I needed you five moments ago," he says with air quotes. His mohawk is a fuschia color, as close as he can match the theme considering all the color he puts in his hair.

Quinn sighs. "You see what I have to work with? I was the team lead at the wedding shop. I don't get ordered around. I order around. And there's nothing that," a sound happens to the right of Quinn and she looks over to see several metal line stands rolling away. "On second thought, I'll be right back."

"Okay," Sam says in his camera interview, his eyes light up as his hands unfold the scenario. "Let me set the scene for you. So I roll up to this sorority row in my blue tank top and blue jeans. Kurt has this whole thing about matching- its whatever," Sam says with a shake of his head, "and he has me use one of the trucks instead of the van the rest of the guys are using because we built this- I don't know what to call it? One of those Plinko boards or a huge bingo board. Anyways, he had me design something out of wood, paint it four hundred shades of blue, do some crazy plane work, and then put it under a sheet like I didn't know what the hell it was. So-"

The camera pans to the front of a three story building with Sam pulling up. "There is no better feeling than pulling up to a sorority as a sweaty construction surfer guy. God, I'm hot. And then there's Kurt, in their ballroom or whatever. All the furniture is rearranged and he's wearing everything blue he owns. He's got a blue hat, blue crotched vest, blue pants that look like they're basically rolled gingerbread hip huggers or something and I'm thinking to myself- self, what if it's a girl this sorority president is having? And then I find out this sweet guy who met Stanley Tucci at an airport has basically turned into a pixie Nazi. He starts kickin' me around. And I'm like- what the hell, dude? I'm a designer too. But then he gets distracted as the caterer arrives and he kind of calms down a bit. Guess he was nervous after winning the challenge last week. I also didn't have the heart to tell him that the blue hat kind of clashed with the shade of wood flooring."

"I have to state, for the record," Tina says in an interview, "that I wasn't really sure what Dave was going for when we stopped at the store. We were the last team to go shopping. I think Dave has a phobia of the Color Purple, and I'm not talking about the movie with Oprah. It's like beyond an issue. What if someone wants a purple nursery? Is he not gonna take the commission? But then he does this thing," Tina says with her hands as she mimicks a string of lights.

"And she can totally see what I'm going for," Dave says smugly into the camera while a shot of him working with a string of fishing wire and several purple crystals above a table in the party space for the socialite. "I told you, I had a gut instinct. If this doesn't beat that gay kid, nothing will. This is a great party."

The camera pans to the rest of the room, where a pentagon shaped table is being draped and rolling white tables begin to adjoin to be decorated. Tina is off to the side of the room near a rented photo booth making favors and decorations for the tables with little purses and peacock feathers while Dave is on a ladder with a needle in his mouth and a look of concentration on his face.

Santana and Rachel enter their room as they see people setting up tables. Santana furrows her brow as she walks over, her masterful heel click a portent of doom. "Excuse me. Is this the size table we ordered for this event?" When the moving man grunts as a response and hands Santana a delivery order sheet, she calls Rachel over but not before berating the balding delivery man wearing a back brace. "No, no, no, no, no. My name is Santana Lopez. You do not grunt at me like you're going to take me back to your cave and make me roast a tyranosaurus for you over a fire. You give me an answer. I am not one of your peons that you just order around. Second, this the wrong size and it was not signed for."

"Santana, what's going on?" Rachel asks.

"Did you approve this size table?"

Rachel looks down at the sheet and then back at the table. She does this a couple of times and then makes a pouty face. "These are too big for the space. And we have two more coming."

"Well, then you'd better get a magical saw or cancel one of the orders. I don't care which."

"Cancel one of the tables? But we've got-"

"I know how many guests we've got coming, Berry. Do you remember what we agreed to when renting the space?! We can't move the tables that were here and we can't block the stage. This is our space. This is unacceptable. Fix it!" Santana barks.

"But how?"

"This was your idea," Santana hovers over Rachel, causing Rachel to shrink back, "need I remind you that I'm from New York and I've stepped over bigger people than you on my way to the top of the designing world there. I go home and you better be damn skippy sure you've got your door locked because I will end you."

"I can-"

The camera interview shows Santana sighing with a hand pressed to her forehead. "You know what? I can't even-" is all she says as she exits the interview room.


	7. Party Planning Challenge, Part 4

"I have to lead his hand around the space," Artie drawls, clearly annoyed in a camera interview. "I literally have had to approve everything. I'm sitting there trying to talk with the belly dancers that have been hired and might be beautiful but I've never seen them before and he's bugging me about gold chocolate coins for centerpieces that don't fit the theme and what in the hell do we even need a centerpiece for? Where did they dig up this guy at? Arrgh."

The cameras show flashes of the parties in full swing: A swarm of people from above crowding around the two casino tables at Rachel and Santana's party while both appear in red flapper dresses, trying to keep everything coordinated, a permanent anger crease around Santana's mouth. At Tina and Dave's party, several well-dressed sixteen year olds applaud as a chef flambes a cherry jubilees dessert while purple crystals twinkle above a low-lit area.

Sam and Kurt's party looks the most organized as Kurt directs the party goers in a variety of games, including the use of a giant Plinko board for mini-baby themed prizes. The girls all clap and ooh as his four tiered shower cake enters to hungry lipstick-laden faces. Over at Lauren and Sugar's party, in full swing, a chef uses a professional grill to make chicken and bbq bacon burgers while Sugar leads some of the girls in cupcake decorating and Lauren leads some of them in building lego sculptures. There is a small pile of gifts on a gift table, yet to be opened.

Artie and Finn's bash for Solstice seems to be going well, with several business men shot happily enamored with the belly dancers. Noah and Quinn's party is a press the flesh event and by yards has the happiest looking guests. Drinks and flash photography and waitresses in bunny outfits abound. What none of the designers knows though, is that several plants have been sent to spy for the judges and that they see everything that's going well and going horribly wrong.

By the time the designers gather in the Haven Lounge, they are wiped out and only Lauren and Sugar sit near each other, at least in amicable silence. Quinn is rebuffing Puck's advances. Sam glares at Dave who is trying to avoid glaring at Kurt. Tina happily chats with Rachel while Santana fusses on her blackberry and Artie simply shakes his head, muttering about Finn and glancing his way every few minutes.

Jesse St. James enters the lounge with his hands clasped behind his back. "The judges would like to see: Lauren and Sugar, Sam and Kurt, and Tina and Dave. Please follow me."

"Good luck," Rachel calls out, nearly as an afterthought.

"You put me in the bottom," Santana hisses nearby to Rachel. "I won't forget that, star girl."

"I feel so good about this," Dave says with a smile in a camera interview. "If I'm in the same group as the gay kid, that means I did something right since they think his shit doesn't smell bad. I mean, we obviously won the challenge, right?"

As the contestants take their places, Jesse bows to them slightly. "Designers, welcome to the Judges Chambers. Everyone knows our judges: Mr. Will Schuester, editor and reporter for several architecture magazines. Sue Sylvester, perennial Digest Regency Bonner Award recipient and fashion challenger of the establishment. And last year's Capture the Flag winner and lead architect at Denver Designs- Blaine Anderson."

He took a breath so the judges would have a moment to nod or wave and then he continued. "And you know our prizes: a three month showcase at the Savannah Awards Design House, a commission for Flag Architecture review where you will work personally with Mr. Schuester, and 50,000 big buckaroos for your personal design business. You ready to find out how you did?"

"Yes!" Lauren and Dave both bark out and then look at each other as though one had forgotten the other was in the room.

After a beat, Jesse smiles. "I'm happy to tell you that your rooms were all winning designs this week. Now, before the judges pick an overall winner, we'll discuss each party thrown. You'll notice four panel televisions this week and the final one..."

As Jesse motions toward it, the fourth screen goes from being blank except for the Capture the Flag logo to being filled with Shelby Corcoran's face. "Hello designers! Congratulations!"

"Hello," comes a small chorus in return.

"I want to congratulate you on your winning designs this week and tell you how proud I am of each of you. Good luck in the competition."

"Yes, that's all well and good," Sue butts in. "But I've got a colonoscopy scheduled at four. Let's get this over with."

Will grimaces slightly. "Thank you for that visual, Sue. Why don't we start with the backyard barbecue for the orphanage. Who was that?"

"That was us," Lauren raises her hand for both of them. "Me and Sugar," she adds as an afterthought.

Will nods, looking down at his card. "Whose idea was it to break up the party?"

"Well," Sugar says as she looks up at the stage lights. "We had a lot of trouble deciding what to do. Like, Lauren's not a big fan of pink and I really like pink and so it was really tough to work together..."

"I'm gonna stop you there," Sue says. "You can't always enjoy what you're designing. Sometimes there will be commissions that don't want anything to do with pink. You have to be prepared for that."

Sugar shakes her head. "Not at my daddy's business."

Sue is ready to retort when Blaine breaks in. "You've actually highlighted a great point about compromise, which is tough for some designers to accomplish but here the duality of the party worked really well. I liked the interactivity element of it, that you didn't just have a party for the girls but that they were able to build and create and it seemed to go over really well."

"I agree," Shelby nods on her television. "You kept the food simple and the design your own cupcake station along with the lego building station to keep them entertained and even give it a nontraditional element that worked in your favor. The people that care for the girls at the orphanage were blown away with your kindness and they say they've rarely seen the girls that happy."

Lauren nods and gives Sugar a small smile. Will looks up at Shelby's television. "Thanks for your insight Shelby. I actually want to talk about the cupcake station. I noticed your design element for this challenge. What went on with that?"

"I was left in charge of making things a little pink," Sugar says, "for all the girly girls and I felt the best way to do that and so that Lauren and I could agree on something was to take the idea of gumballs, pink gumballs and make a table. So I got those glass countertops and stools for support and made a table with a fake top and hot glued the gumballs and then put the real top on top. So it's like pretty and functional."

"Well," Sue snarls. "I know you saw it on a wedding show because I've seen it before. It's not fresh, but it's appropriate to the design theme. Still boring though. Moving right along to the party for the tween and pregnant sixteen year old."

"That was us, Dave and I," Tina says with a raised hand. "We had a little trouble staying in the purple theme, but our clients seemed overall satisfied."

"Why is that?" Will asks.

"Dave's not a fan of purple," Tina says and Dave makes a face. "Well, tell me it's not true."

"I do not have trouble with purple," Dave says with a snort. "I just, we got that gut feeling that we were goin' in the right direction at the last minute, so it was kind of a train wreck before then."

"Well, I don't see that in the space," Blaine shakes his head. "I see a nice play on green and purple with the peacock feathers and the purple crystals. It was really a simple design element that worked wonders with the low lighting."

Shelby nods encouragingly. "I was a little worried when this assignment came your way because I didn't want you to think little girl party and you definitely gave the idea of a teenager birthday with sophistication. Well done on the beaded tablecloth choices and good use of catering to give it an up, close, and personal feel. The parents were delighted with the results and the girls are apparently still gushing and clamoring to hire you two again. Take it as a compliment."

Dave nods, thinking to himself that things are going really well.

"Not much of a design element for a design competition, though," Sue quips and Dave's head snaps back to center. "Finally, we have the baby shower for the sorority."

"Actually, if I may," Kurt says, "Sam and I decided to call it the Cutie Patootie Event." He put his hand on his hips at the end of the statement to add emphasis.

"Well," Sue snarks. "Isn't that precious. Bold move to go with blue. Some consider that presumptuous."

"You'll notice, though," Kurt says in defense, "we were the only ones actually dressed in blue. Most of the party favors and even the design element Plinko board of sorts is completely gender neutrel."

"Yes, let's talk about that," Will says with a furrowed brow. "It's really the only big design element from this week. What was your inspiration?"

"A very game show type feel," Kurt says with gesturing hands. "I wanted all the sorority sisters to feel like they were at a party, not just at a baby shower- which can quickly get boring as all get out. And I think I achieved that element of whimsy and fun and felt the party was a great success."

"And Kurt is great to work with," Sam added. "No lie, he kept me on task and helped me when I needed clarification while building the contraption as well. Couldn't have done it without him."

"So," Sue says, "you built this?"

Sam nods nervously. "Well," Sue continues. "Congratulations, you two have won the challenge and you both have immunity for next week."

"What?" Kurt says, with wide eyes and hands covering his face.

"You may all return to the Haven Lounge. You're safe for this week," Jesse adds.

Dave shakes his head in an interview. "Again. He took the win from me again. I'm getting real tired of this kid's shit."

Kurt looks like he's about to hyperventilate and he's fanning himself. "Two weeks in a row! I'm a winner two weeks in a row! It's like living a dream! I wanna win all the challenges!" he says in a loud voice, nearly giddy with joy.

Kurt enters and pumps his fist in the air. "We won! Team Blue won!"

The room erupts in applause and hugs, except for Dave, who stands off in the corner in a mood. No one really seems to notice, though. After a small celebration, Kurt takes a breath and then looks around. "But that means they want to see the other three teams."

Silence and tension pervades the room quickly as the other six contestants file into the Judges Chamber to find Jesse St. James and the three judges looking at them stoically. Rachel looks down, frowning.

Jesse breaks into the silence. "Designers, this week your designs were the worst. We're going to go through each party one by one and then the judges will make their decision. Judges? Where would you like to start?"

"Team Red," Sue says. "We got several comment cards saying that there were lines for the entertainment at your party."

"We had issues with the-" Rachel begins.

"Excuses," Sue counters. "You had two casino table games for over one hundred guests. Whats more, you had no design element except for an overall casino theme that was not well executed."

"Well I-"

"It's all her fault," Santana snipes. "She dragged me to this location, convinced me we could support these people, and then didn't follow through when she checked the game table delivery slip. Simple things. All her fault."

Blaine licked his lips. "You're a team. Is it appropriate to just throw your team mate under the bus when things don't go your way?"

"She dragged me down. I won last week," Santana hissed.

"That was last week," Will answered with the shake of his head.

"Fine," Santana says with hands raised. "We sucked. Sorry. Don't send my ass home. I've shown you I am capable."

"We'll see," Sue says with an impassive blink. "Planet Bollywood party, what's your excuse for the canvas sack on the ceiling?"

"We were going for an Arabian Nights theme," Artie begins, trying to defend a design he clearly doesn't agree with.

"Aside from being incredibly offensive," Sue counters, "you're not giving me a reason for the canvas bag. Yes, you distracted us with belly dancers and cheap chocolate coins on the tables in bowls for centerpieces, but this is a design competition. Your design was a canvas sack."

"We had some trouble with-" Finn begins.

"Hold up," Artie quipped. "Don't drag me into what you had trouble with."

"Gentlemen, I am both enfuriated and aroused by this. But bickering will get you nowhere in this competition. Your design failed. Why should you stay?"

"Because Finn's weak and can't make a decision to save his life," Artie says quickly.

"Umm," Finn replies.

"Let's move on. Quinn Fabray and Noah Puckerman," Blaine Anderson tries to add helpfully as he looks down at his card. "Your party was the second most successful party tonight. Where you failed in executing a design, you made up for with costumed waitresses, a red carpet reception line, and floating rooms."

"Excuse me," Quinn states," but we don't deserve to be here."

"You had no design element," Sue counters.

"I disagree. Two points: Our design element was the simple floating curtains with tool to add splashes of color and we were the second most successful party out of six groups where most of the teams spent the entire challenge bickering before pulling something at the last minute. How were we not successful?"

"You weren't unsuccessful," Will says, "but this is still a competition for design. If this were a party planning competition, you would have been standing very close to the winner's circle."

Sue shakes her head. "I'm bored. I say we send one of the Planet Bollywood boys home. Their design sucked the worse out of the three."

"Hold up," Artie says.

Will shakes his head. "We need to discuss this."

"What's there to discuss? Wheels says that Frankenstein didn't man up. If Wheels did twice the work, he should get a chance to prove himself next week. Go ahead, tell me I'm wrong if I'm wrong." Blaine and Will open and close their mouths to argue, but can't come up with anything to say. Sue nods. "Very well. You're out, Frankenstein. Don't let the door hit yah where the sun don't shine."

There is a stunned moment of silence where Finn just looks at the camera crew in the interview room. "I can't believe I'm going home. I just, I didn't think it was that bad. I mean, I have a lot to go back to. School and my girlfriend and I'll be okay. It's just sad, you know? I'm glad to have been chosen to compete and I'm really proud of what I designed," he says with a bittersweet smile as they show the contestants hugging Finn in the Lounge and then him leaving the work room.

He looks down at Rachel with a small smile. "Sorry, Star Girl. Thought I'd make it. You do okay, okay?"

She nods up at him with a tear at the corner of her eye and then sighs into a camera. "It's hard to see him go. I didn't find out a lot about him and I would have loved to."


	8. Let's Have A Kiki Challenge, Part 1

Lauren yawns during an on-camera interview. "Sorry. We had a long night."

Kurt shakes his head. "I don't wanna talk about it."

Sam opens and then shuts his mouth very quickly as people start to enter the work space and take a seat, more than one of them shell-shocked.

"I don't know what everyone is so down about," Sugar shrugs. "I slept fine!"

Dave shakes his head. "The last thing we need is more drama. I made three batches of pancakes and four pots of coffee. What a waste. What a freakin' waste. And all cause tall guy went home. She's actin' like it was the great love affair of the ages."

The camera pans to Rachel sitting quietly, her hair ribboned in pig tails. She's wearing a t-shirt with several small gold stars that reads "Finntastic" on it. She comes into a camera interview looking like she's been crying.

"I just- he was really special and it was unfair to see him go."

Quinn rolls her eyes. "You'd think she was actually trying to mess with our heads. She kept us up half the night discussing this guy that we knew nothing about. Not Artie though, not the guy that actually was his partner and might have actually known something about him."

Jesse St. James enters the work room. "Hello designers," he says with a smile and notices the lack luster response. "What's wrong, something on my lapel?" he jokes.

Rachel raises her hand and speaks. "Mr. St. James, I believe a crime has been perpetrated, the magnitude of which should be addressed before we step one foot further in the competition."

"Do you see what we had to deal with?" Quinn says in an interview, clearly annoyed.

Jesse clasps his hand behind his back and walks over to where Rachel is sitting, alone at her own table. "You can call me Jesse. Please, I insist. Does this have something to do with your t-shirt?"

Rachel nodds, getting teary-eyed. "He shouldn't have gone home."

"But he did," Jesse says without remorse. "He didn't even try to defend himself. But you're still here. Can you soldier on?"

Rachel takes a deep breath and nods as though it were worth a medal of valor. "I can certainly attempt it. Thank you Mr. St...I mean, Jesse. You're certainly kind to indulge me."

"Well, that's my job," Jesse announces as he walks back up to the front and pulls a small white bag from a large inside jacket pocket. Several tired faces are suddenly sitting up and paying attention. "And since your mini-challenge for this week's special prize is a little indulgent, it just seems to fit, doesn't it? Here, catch!"

Sugar shrinks back as Jesse starts throwing candy out to to the designers. Artie catches a watermelon jolly rancer and smiles as he pops it in his mouth.

Dave blinks as he looks at one that lands near his hand. "What on God's green earth is a Mallo cup?"

"Mmm," Lauren smiles, "Reese's Pieces. These are the shit."

"Did they just raid a movie theater candy drawer? I mean, where else do you even get sour patch kids from?" Quinn asks. "Not that I'm complaining, mind you. Girl can't watch her figure all the time."

"Designers," Jesse chortles over the cacaphony of people scrambling for their favorite candies, "your mini-challenge for this week is to draw a piece of furniture inspired by whichever candy you have in your hand right now. Sam and Kurt are both still eligible for this prize even though they have immunity. Ten minutes. You ready? And go."

There's a scramble for pencils and sugar cut short by the ten minute restriction and Jesse asks for pictures. Three people drew chairs. Two lamps emerge from the deck of ideas. Having snagged a Tootsie Midgie, his second choice, Dave even manages to pop out a decent looking fireplace rendition in ten minutes, replete with burning Tootsie Midge Logs.

"I should have known," Dave begins in an interview but it cuts back to Jesse.

"Rachel, what is that you drew?"

Rachel looks at her drawing. "Oh. Umm...I had a sno-cap and it looks kind of like a Hersheys kiss, so I drew kitchen cabinets and a countertop with the pull drawers and fake marble completely made of sno-caps."

"Well," Jesse says, "since everyone else seems to have induldged in lamps and chairs, I think that means you win."

"Do I have immunity too?" Rachel blurts out without thinking, her eyes raising in surprise that she said it out loud.

Artie thinks as he begins to speak into the camera. "I'm probably imagining it, but doesn't Rachel win a lot of these mini-challenges? I mean, I saw Dave's drawing. That Tootsie Roll fireplace was scary good. All it needed was a bearskin rug. I'm kind of wondering if I should say something or just let sleeping dogs lie."

Jesse shakes his head. "Better. You'll be the only person to meet our fourth judge and design focus for this challenge. Hit it!"

Let's Have A Kiki plays briefly as Jesse spins his finger in the air. Kurt and Santana both scream into the interview camera man's face. "We're designing for the Scissor Sisters!"

Jesse swipes his hand in the air and the music cuts. "I know what you're thinking," he smirks as an assistant rolls in a cart with five white mystery boxes in it. "But that's not the case."

"Okay," Lauren says with pursed lips in an interview. "Now I'm getting pissed. The Scissor Sisters rule. Jesse stopped bein' funny about five minutes ago."

"Does someone wanna tell me why all the girls and Kurt were practically creamin' their pants over a song about cats?" Puck asks with a confused quirk to his eyebrow.

"He said what?" Rachel asks with a crestfallen look.

"The reality," Jesse continues as he places the five boxes in front of five random contestants, "is that you won't be meeting who you are designing for until judgement day. Well, everyone but Rachel. But, perish not, each one of you will design a very specific room based on these five items. Open your boxes."

Sugar opens her box first. "It's a bag of wax lips?"

Santana tilts her head. "A bronze owl from a curtain rod?"

Tina furrows her brow. "Wow. A vintage Monopoly game."

Sam's mouth opens with an "O" shape. "This is...A Rubiks cube."

Rachel smiles at her box content. "A Grammy award with no name. Is it Neil Patrick Harris?!"

Jesse shakes his head with a chuckle. "No, but good try. You have five clues between yourselves contestants. This week, incorporate these clues into a design for a guest room that likes to get down for a kiki. He- or she- loves to host but finds having some guests stay the night always brings a further element of fun. Good luck designers. Oh! And, let the music play."

Several people begin scribbling notes while Dave looks around the room, blinking and catches Puck's eye. Puck shrugs at Dave and Dave shrugs back.

What is a kiki? Dave mouths.

Puck open and shuts his mouth, settling on a head shake.

"I may not know exactly what a kiki is," Artie says, "but I'm not afraid to go a little wacky. I worked with theatre people. I can guess what kind of party animal someone who gets a Grammy award might be. I've got this."


	9. Let's Have A Kiki Challenge, Part 2

Tina opens the Monopoly box and pulls out the game pieces after a moment. "These little game pieces, when I was a kid, were the cause of all sorts of havoc between my three brothers and I hate, hate, hate," to which Tina plucks the thimble out of her hand and throws it, a light pinging sound can be heard from where it landed in the distance. "Ooph, that feels better."

Quinn smiles as though she's been especially delighted. "You're joking, right? Are there people on this planet that haven't played Monopoly? Oh my God. So, I just have to say that I loved being an only child. I always got to be the race car," she says with a shrug.

"I don't do Monopoly." Dave says with a deadpan drawl. "It's right in the title. Bored game. That's why God invented Gears of War."

"Okay," Kurt says with jazz hands afloat, "I just have to tell you once that I did one of those Create your own opolys and my Boardwalk and Park Place were Carrie from Sex and the City and Meryl Streep in her fiercest bitchy role as Miranda from the Devil Wears Prada, which is the best movie ever made."

"You're not gonna make us play it tonight are you?" Sam asks with a crestfallen look. "Come on. I have a younger brother and a younger sister. I don't think if we started one tonight we'd be done before you crown a champion of this game."

"Okay, enough Monopoly talk," Puck butts in from his car cam. "All these losers, they just want to concentrate on the mystery items. Puckzilla has a better idea. Can you keep a secret America? Of course you can. Cause I got these," Puck takes a moment to pull up his sleeve and flex, "anyways, I'm not going to design store right away. I figure, in the chaos of getting carts and shit, nobody's gonna notice if I head right across the parking lot to the feed store instead. Puckzilla's gonna win this hands down."

"Puck is literally the least stealthy person I have ever met," Sugar says as she pulls down her pink heart shades to the tip of her nose. "I'm a Motta. I don't follow the trends. So when I see Puck sprinting in the opposite direction, I follow. Cause that's what the g ganstas do. Word," she says as she tries to make a sort of angled West side sign.

There is a camera shot of Sugar walking the aisle behind Puck, watching him through the slats very closely and followed by a close up of him smirking. He moves slowly, continuing to peruse the aisles until he catches up with a confused Sugar, who seems to have lost sight of him for a moment.

"What are you doing?" he says quickly, causing her to jump a little.

She turns and tries to remain unfazed. "I was...uhhh...looking for kitty litter?"

"That sounds like a question more than a statement. Are you sure that's what you want for your room?"

"Yes," she says, trying to lift a gray bag of litter about roughly the same size as herself into a cart. "In fact, my room is gonna kick ass. Just you watch...what was your name again?"

"Puck," Puck says with a nod as he helps her lift her litter into her cart. "Catch you back at warehouse," he says with a flirtatious jump of his eyebrows as he rolls his cart away.

"Okay," she manages with a slight warble as she checks out his ass as he swings back around to the chicken wire.

"Hook, line, and sinker," Puck says with a smug grin in a camera interview. "See, I know she's a little crazy. But she's love starved for the Puck. Who wouldn't be a little crazy? Way I see it, we're both doing each other a favor."

"I wanted to get caught," Sugar says with a shrug. "It was all part of the plan. See, he knows I exist and now I get a chance to rock his world. Everyone, like, wins."

The camera swings back to the lot behind the work room where people are unloading their items onto carts. Rachel struggles and goes unnoticed by most of the contestants. "Excuse me, could you? Hey, I'm trying to- Don't close the- thank you!" she snaps with sarcasm towards most of the contestants backs.

Sam shakes his head. "In hindsight, its not a good game technique but, what can I say? I'm a chivalrous type of guy. The girl's obviously in need of some shining armor."

"Wanky," Santana says without missing a beat. "Any girl that needs some guy to save her is dragging down the rep for the whole female population and should be shot. And that's why when I have enough money to buy my own country, it'll be the best country ever."

"Thank you," Rachel says with a small helpless voice as Sam finishes loading her cart. "You're my hero."

"Whatever," Sam says with a slight smile. "Just can't stand to see a girl in distress." He starts to roll the carts in as she trails behind. "You okay since what's his name left?"

"Finn? Yes, it's a cruel thing, losing him before destiny could obviously intervene, but if it's meant to be, I'll see him again."

"Well, there ya go. It's like my little sister said when she played Annie..."

"You like Broadway?!" Rachel chirps.

Sam shakes his head. "Not exactly. My little sister always wanted to play Annie. You know with the red curls and everything. And she was pretty good. Director didn't even make her sing before she cast her."

"Really? Tell me more-" Rachel says with enthusiasm as they enter the challenge area, with the familiar 14 rooms now pared down to a few less.

Lauren watches Sam and Rachel go by and shakes her head. In a camera interview, she's more than happy to give her opinion. "It's sick is what it is. A pathological need for rescue and help. She's couldn't fool anyone with those shoulder pads and bad fifties secretary vibes. Star Girl is a man catcher. Bet you a dollar to a donut that if Sam didn't have immunity, she'd be eatin' him up just to watch him get sent home tomorrow. Cue "Boots Are Made For Walkin" if you know what's good for you, Mr. Cameraman."

"Okay," Rachel says in a camera interview. "I know that I have some catching up to do to prove myself and after the exceeding rudeness of my fellow competitors, they just make it easier by lighting a fire beneath my quivering form. I shall rise like the phoenix and make this competition my own. What's even more helpful is that Jesse St. James is attracted to both my beauty and unique sense of style. It's a real plus," she shrugs with a big smile plastered on her face.

"They moved my room next to the damn gay kid," Dave says while sliding his hand down his face as though he looks exhausted. "And this kid...hums. While he works, while he uses tools, while he paints. Humming. All the freaking time. It's driving me up the wall. I'm dreaming in hums!"

"Can you just please- what the hell are you making?" Dave asks as he pokes his head around Kurt's cubicle to demand he stop humming.

"Oh, do you like it?" Kurt asks from a ladder with a smile. "I was going for this wooden art deco modern chic sleek silver look."

"Are you for real?" Dave asks, clearly annoyed. "Basically, you just made a loft."

Kurt descends from the ladder and walks toward the divider so he can see inside Dave's space. "I'm shocked. It's not just a loft. It's a Kiki loft. And what do you have...oh, look. It's mirrors. Isn't that fun? The 1980s called, they want their concept back."

"Excuse me, mister I-have-to-cover-everything-with denim special snowflake, not all of us can be concept artists straight from a Francis Ford Coppola set!"

"Shows how much you know," Kurt snarks. "You probably don't know good movie design from a hole in the ground! What's your problem with criticism?! If you can't take it, simply stay on your side of the wall."

"Yeah, with pleasure," Dave calls out with an ill-tempered grump.

Sam walks into Kurt's cubicle from his work space a few rooms away. "Everything okay?"

Kurt shrugs from his ladder. "It's like everything I do offends the guy. Like breathing air is a crime around him or something."

Dave shakes his head in an on-camera interview. "It's like I wasn't even on the other side of the wall."

Sam asks Kurt while anchoring the ladder with one hand and other on his hip. "You need anything up there? Well, look. Don't let him get ya down."

Kurt shook his head. "No, I'm fine. I've got plenty to work with up here for now. I have some spray painting to do next. He won't bother me. I've been fighting against assholes like him my whole life."

"Once again," Dave drones on, "like I wasn't even on the other side of the freakin' wall. Maybe if he weren't so, I don't know, gay, maybe I wouldn't have a problem. What? Do you think I have a problem with gay guys? Fuck, no. Just him."

Jesse St. James enters the stations through the work room door. He stops at each station and looks at their works, muttering critiques under his breath so a few designers can hear him before he stops at Rachel's station to collect her.

"Rachel, are you ready to meet this week's design focus and mystery fourth judge?"

Rachel nods, brushing her hands quickly. "I sure am Jesse."

"Well, the limo's waiting out front to take us to a special lunch." Jesse smiles as he extends his arm so Rachel can put her hand through, the rest of the designers looking on with varying looks ranging from jealously to crestfallen ire.

Quinn shakes her head. "I'd hate her if her strategy weren't so obvious. But we're onto you, Star Girl, and if you don't quit this shit, we'll make sure one of your designs fail. I won't say how, why, or where, but sabotage just doesn't have to have a pretty smile. Though sometimes," Quinn says with a pageant flip of her short blond locks, "it certainly helps."


End file.
